


Alchemy From This Ocean

by sandyk



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-19
Updated: 2010-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Which was one of the reasons she ended up having sex with him. (Post - Judgment Day pt2, pre - Last Man Standing.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alchemy From This Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> not mine, no profit garnered. Thanks to templemarker for beta awesome. Title from the poem Beyond the 45th Parallel by Geri Dolan.

 

"So then we, well, you don't want to know," McGee said. He blushed and chuckled and did those McGee child- like things that made people underestimate him. She liked that it was not a pretense or something he did on purpose. It was just McGee. Time away proved to her that just McGee was a rare thing in the world.

Ziva inhaled and said, "I do not want to know because it is boring or because it is no longer permissible to tell me?"

McGee shrugged. More shy little baby awkward motions. The answer appeared to be the latter. Ziva said, "It is nice to see you, whether you can tell me or not tell me the end of the story or why you decided to vacation here."

"I was really excited to see, um, Morocco." He had scheduled his vacation to see her in person, it was very sweet. At least in part to see her, that he could admit.

Which was one of the reasons she ended up having sex with him.

It was not because he was in any way suave or a player. McGee, thankfully, had not turned into Tony. He was himself, completely McGee. He had made her laugh, more than once intentionally.

And she was very tired of the people she was working with again. She was not completely ready to say she preferred the NCIS people she had worked with to the people she worked for now, but she felt it on the tip of her tongue.

"That was very invigorating," Ziva said. "Not what I expected from tonight."

"Me neither," McGee said quickly. "I always figured you'd sleep with Tony. If you slept with any of us. Or Abby."

"You have slept with Abby," Ziva said.

"I don't talk about it," he said. "I'm not Tony. Though I bet if he slept with Abby he wouldn't tell anyone either. It would be obvious. But I think Gibbs might kill him."

She turned on her side to look at him and smiled. "But he did not kill you."

"I'm not Tony."

"You have now said that three times."

McGee looked flustered and stared at the ceiling. "I just, you know, wasn't thinking of you that way."

"I was not thinking of you that way. But now I see I should have been." She tapped his chest. "Still working with a personal trainer?"

"Actually, yes. Now that I'm in new division and I'm not out in the field, I think training and weights is even more important." He smiled. "You can really tell, huh?"

"Yes. Given our recent activities, hard to miss."

He laughed. "Yeah. Of course, you're always in great shape."

"Thank you," she said.

He slept like a log. It was endearing, she thought. Many things were endearing about McGee. And attractive. Abby had been right about his abilities, she thought. Ziva had been so pleased when Abby decided she liked her and would therefore have girl-talk with her.

She wondered if it would be weird if they ever worked together again. He seemed to her to be able to deal quite well with his previous sexual partners, judging by his relationship with Abby. Not that she expected to work with him again, sadly. She hoped to. She could admit that, lying there in McGee's expensive hotel bed, listening to his deep breathing.

In the morning, when she came out of the bathroom after her shower, he was sitting on the bed, his laptop already out. He said, "I found a great place for breakfast, if you want. Excellent reviews."

"I have been here before," she said. "In this city, I can certainly find a place for us to eat. What are you looking for?"

He looked up, "Oh, right, that makes sense. Sorry, I didn't mean to --"

"Be yourself?" She smiled again and put on the clean clothes she had stashed in her bag. Always be prepared, she thought. For some reason, it had a bit of a leer and sounded like Tony.

I am not Tony, she thought.

They had breakfast in a restaurant that she liked and McGee had found excellent reviews for. The food was the same she had had two days before when she ate there, but the company was superior. She had been watching all other patrons and weighing every word she spoke before. She was still watching the other patrons but she did not have to think too hard with McGee. She trusted him.

She did observe that he was watching the other patrons as well. She assumed there was a reason he was vacationing near her besides sentiment. It would be from the Director, the new one.

And she was very tired again. She said, “How is Ducky, then?”

“Oh, I don’t see him so much, but I think he’s good. I did see him in the elevator right before I left. It’s just strange how you can see someone all the time and then suddenly it’s only in the elevator even though he’s still in the same place. But I’m not.”

“I do not think it is strange. Just life, change. The usables.”

He smiled and said, “Yeah. The usable. I missed that, you getting stuff wrong.”

“How is that wrong?”

“I think you meant the usual. Usable isn’t really what people say.”

“It makes more sense,” she said. “Life is using things, doing things.” She took one of the dates he had put carefully on his napkin. “Did I convince you I meant to say that?”

“No,” McGee said. “I don’t like dates that much.”

“Dating is hard,” she said, taking another from his napkin.

“Ha,” he said. “But this isn’t, right? I mean, last night, that was --”

“Invigorating,” she said.

“I just wanted to be sure it wouldn’t be weird.”

She said, “When would it be weird?” She ate his last four dates and did not listen to his response. He was very optimistic, very McGee about these things. She was not so hopeful.

“Anyway, we can just pretend it never happened,” he said, finishing his speech.

"If that happens, yes. Two ships meeting at random in the night, like that."

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "Tony would have a movie quote."

"He would," she said. "But neither of us are Tony."

THE END  



End file.
